Background

Brandon Lion was the first child of two for Shannon and Richard Lion of Havre de Grace, Maryland. The result of an unexpected and unexpectedly difficult pregnancy, Shannon spent hours and hours in painful labor at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, attempting to deliver her son. It was not an easy delivery, and when it was all over, Shannon and Richard had a brand new baby boy—and a long laundry list of complications and issues he might manifest in the future, due to the dangerous delivery that boy and mother suffered through. There was a time where Richard and Shannon felt overwhelmed.

Luckily, most of the doctors' concerns for Brandon never came to fruition. It was clear from the start that there was something a little off with the boy, but if he reached his developmental milestones slowly, he did eventually reach them. A quiet, loving child, Shannon and Richard's experience with Brandon was much different than what they were given to expect, so when Brandon was three they decided to risk a second pregnancy. Thus, Brandon came to have a little sister, Katie.

Katie was everything that Brandon was not; thoroughly intelligent, precocious, and outgoing. She excelled at nearly everything she did even from a young age. For some siblings, this would have caused a rift in their relationship, but this didn't seem to be the case for Brandon and Katie. Brandon embraced the idea of being a big brother wholeheartedly, taking it upon himself to take care of Katie in any way he could, while Katie found it her 'job' to make sure Brandon was not abused by or taken advantage of by a world he didn't quite understand.

Their lives were otherwise relatively ordinary. Brandon struggled in school while Katie flourished—not out of a real stupidity but due to the fact that Brandon was far more interested in doing art or music than he was trying to corral his brain into the patterns necessary for science or math. He was very, very good at art and music, but made such a poor showing in other, more literally-minded subjects that Brandon was forced to retake his 5th grade year. Despite having been held back, Brandon never particularly seemed to mind, although he was frequently teased by other students and could never quite seem to figure out how to avoid bumbling into the bullies' traps. As a result, Brandon became very shy, quiet and more likely to communicate through gestures or body language than actual vocal language.

It was perhaps this propensity for being picked on that caused Brandon to finally discover the neohuman abilities that lurked within him. Desperate to avoid the torment of older, larger boys at his elementary school, one day on the playground Brandon pulled the ambient light around him like a cloak and…simply disappeared. He was still there, physically, but no one could see him any more; he'd made himself invisible by bending light around his body. Experimentation over the next few weeks lead Brandon to realize that he could do more than go invisible - he could also 'paint' in the air, or create illusions that looked real to the people around him. Brandon was very excited to discover this ability - and so was Katie, who decided this meant that Brandon should be a superhero like in her Saturday Morning cartoons and comic books. Shannon and Richard were a little skeptical.

… but not that skeptical. When it came time for Brandon to start high school, they signed him up for the nearby Steranko Institute rather than allow him to go to Havre de Grace High.

Personality

Brandon is a quiet, shy, kind-hearted boy. He doesn't tend to talk much around people before he knows them, but even before he does a particular amount of speaking, he is generous to a fault, willing to share time, talents, efforts, and material possessions with even virtual strangers. It never quiet seems to occur to him that people might be willing to take advantage of him, or may be anything less than entirely honest and forthright with him. He has a tendency to give until he has nothing left to give, and then cheerfully attempt to continue giving. Despite his general obliviousness to the real nature of the world, however, Brandon can be very insightful, and has been known to cut straight to the heart of a matter and discern what is upsetting a friend before most people could. Generally speaking, if it's a right-brain function, Brandon is exceptional at it…if it's a left-brain function, he barely scrapes by. He loves with all his heart, however, and will defend as best he can anyone whom he claims as friend or family.

Katie Lion Brandon has a little sister named Katie, and Brandon adores her. He loves her very much, enough to take martial arts classes with her just to keep her company. Katie, unfortunately, is very eager, and wants very much to be a superhero. This means that occasionally, Katie gets in over her head. Way over her head, and big brother Brandon feels it's his job to save her.

A Little Slow It isn't that Brandon is stupid, perse. It's just that his head works a little differently than most peoples'. Some things come very quickly and very naturally to him…and some come very slowly. He isn't very good at 'school', as he finds it very hard to summon up the sort of attention span he needs for things he isn't interested in, to keep his grades up. He's been held back a year because he just isn't an accomplished academe. This also means that he tends to freeze up when confronted with situations that don't fit his strange little world view—which can be particularly dangerous when there's a supervillian in the mix.

Trusting Brandon also wants to believe the best in everyone. It doesn't occur to him that someone might want anything for him for selfish or untoward reasons; clearly everyone is good at heart and people only ever hurt other people by accident. This makes Brandon painfully easy to dupe, either in small regards (he's the perfect mark for a prank, as he'll fall for it every time) or in grander regards.